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Hollywood’s Wackiest Portrayals Of Native Americans

June 7, 2012

Charlton Heston as The Savage. Using a bow and arrow instead of a gun for a change.

In the old days, whenever you saw a star dressed up as an “Indian” and saying “How,” you wanted to say “Why?”

Here are some of the wildest/weirdest of all time.

Burt Lancaster gave good cleavage in Apache. And he knew how to heave his bosom like angry bison.

Paul Newman in Hombre. He sure was.

Victor Mature as Chief Crazy Horse, with dead birds on his head and modern art on his face. And those drop earrings!

Brooklyn-born Jeff Chandler looked silly as Cochise in Broken Arrow, but he got an Oscar nomination for his performance. Why is he holding chopsticks?

Denver-born Debra Paget was always typed as an exotic creature, this time in Broken Arrow. She went on to also play South Sea maidens and harem girls. In 1962, she married a Chinese millionaire and quit the biz.

Audrey Hepburn in The Undefeated. The plot had the Native Americans claiming her as one of their own, but so did the supermodels.

I love Linda Darnell in everything, even Buffalo Bill. No one could work a blue-and-black headband with corresponding necklace like Linda.

Elvis was of mixed blood in Flaming Star, one of his most not-bad films. Love the costume, or lack thereof.

Unfortunately, he also made Stay Away, Joe, in which Native Americans were generally portrayed as inept buffoons. The three people that saw this movie screamed "Return to sender!"